SOURCES FOR FROM BLOODY BEGINNINGS: RICHARD BEASLEY’S UPPER CANADA The centre piece of the mural by Adam Sheriff-Scott, “The Climax of the Action in the Battle of Crysler’s Farm”,reproduced on the front cover, is in the Battle of Crysler’s Farm Visitors’ Centre in Upper Canada Village, Morrisburg, Ontario. A fuzee [given by Richard Beasley to young Chisholm during the Battle of Lundy’s Lane] is a large match to light one’s gun. My sources are many. Although just a portion of those consulted for the book, the sources I give here should be sufficient to establish the veracity of the book. Notes from all of my sources taken down in the course of many years are in my notebooks and on pieces of paper. I shall note the major references in four main eras covered by the story: Revolutionary, Settlement, War of 1812, and Reform and Rebellion. Within each of the four sections I shall list also sources to particular incidents by the chapters in which they occur. For backgound details of Richard Beasley’s activities please see my three pamphlets: RICHARD BEASLEY; THE CHARACTER OF THE MAN AND HIS TIMES; RICHARD BEASLEY AND THE GERMAN COMPANIES; RICHARD BEASLEY AND EARLY DAYS ON BURLINGTON HEIGHTS/ THE POLITICAL EDUCATION OF RICHARD BEASLEY. Letters of and about Richard Beasley are found in the William Berczy Papers in the Bibliothèque de Quebec; in the William Claus papers in the Ontario Archives; in the Abraham and Robert Nelles papers in the Ontario Archives; in the Richard Cartwright Jr papers and John Solomon Cartwright papers in the Douglas Library, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario; in the RG8 Vol. C British Military Series, RG 19, Finance series, RG1 Executive Council Correspondence E14, v.8 in the National Archives of Canada [PAC]. Letters from Richard Cartwright to Richard Beasley and other important documents are transcribed in The Richard Beasley Documents Pt.1 Beasley Correspondence. comp. Trevor Carter and Julia Holland; Pt.2 Beasley Account Book. comp. Trevor Carter. (Hamilton: Dundurn Castle); Dundurn Castle Archaeology: Selected Readings for the McMaster University Field School. compiled for the 1966 Archaeological Field School for ANTHRO 3CC6 by John R. Triggs. (Hamilton: Dundurn Castle). For matters of the 2nd York Regiment and Richard Beasley’s correspondence, etc see PAC RG9 1 B1, v.1 —8 [v.4 for 1815; v.5 for 1816-17; v.8 for 1820]. Copies of some Richard Beasley letters are in the Local History Dept, Hamilton Public Library. Most of the protagonists in this book are subjects of biographical articles and books. See The Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online) and The Dictionary of Hamilton Biography. All of Ernest Cruikshank’s writings cover the period of this book and are invaluable early records and good reading. Articles [indexed periodically] in Ontario History give one a thorough and comprehensive background over the many years of its publishing. REVOLUTIONARY Brennan, Dennis P. “Open to All Parties: Alexander and James Robertson, Albany Printers, 1771-1777,” The Hudson Valley Regional Review: a Journal of Regional Studies (March 1993) v.10, no. 1. Bridenbough, Carl. Mitre and Sceptre: Transatlantic faiths, ideas, personalities and politics, 1689-1775 (New York: Oxford UP, 1952). Countrymen, Edward. “Out of the Bounds of Law: Northern Land Rioters in the Eighteenth Century,“ IN The American Revolution, ed. Alfred Young (DeKalb: 1976). Crary, Catherine. The Price of Loyalty: Tory Writings from the Revolutionary Era (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973). Fox, Edith. Land Speculation in the Mohawk Valley (Ithaca: 1949). Fraser, J. Skulking for the King: a Loyalist plot (Erin: Boston Mills, 1985) Graymont, Barbara. The Iroquois in the American Revolution (Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1972). Humphrey, Thomas J. Land and Liberty: Hudson Valley Riots in the Age of Revolution (DeKalb: Oxford UP, 1952). Minutes of the Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies in the State of New York, Albany County. Sessions 1778-1781. ed. Victor Paltsits. 3 v. (Albany: 1809-10). Norton, Thomas Eliot. The Fur Trade in Colonial New York, 1686-1776 (Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin press, 1940) Randall, William Sterne. Benedict Arnold, patriot and traitor (New York: Morrow, 1990). Reynolds, Cuyler. Albany Chronicles (Buffalo Historical Society). Siebert, William. The Loyalists and Six Nations Indians in the Niagara Peninsula. (Ottawa: 1915). Swiggert, Howard. War Out of Niagara: Walter Butler and the Tory Rangers (New York: Columbia UP, 1933). Watt, Gavin K. Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley: the St. Lèger Expedition. (Toronto: Dundurn, 2002). CHAPTERS 1. Cause for Rebellion Richard Beasley’s mother’s name was Noble. Maria Noble was the daughter of David Noble. Her mother, recorded as Widow Noble, died in January 1772 (St Peter’s Church Records, Albany, N.Y.). The baptism dates of the Beasley and Cartwright families are in the Church Records, for example, Richard, son of Richard and Hannah Cartwright, bapt. March 16, 1759. Witnesses: Richard Howard, Will Newton, Mary Brown. Robert, son of Henry and Mary Beasley, bapt. Nov. 6, 1759. Witnesses: Jacobus Van Benthuysen, Sarah Van Benthuysen. Richard, son of Henry and Mary Beasley, bapt. July 31, 1761. [No witnesses possibly because Richard was born at Fort Hunter, according to the Albany History Project, and, being baptised there, his baptism was simply registered in the Church’s records.] 2. Richard Beasley’s Background Revealed For John Beasley see the Records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, for letters by and about him [eg. John Miln, Missionary at Albany to the Secretary, Albany, N.Y. June 1, 1732: “...Mr. Beasley who is very diligent in Instructing the Negroes of this place a good man of an Exemplary life....” Also, Klingberg, Frank J. Anglican Humanitarianism in Colonial New York (Church Hist. Soc: 1940) [The assertion by the Albany History Project that a John Beasly, registered as a private in a British regiment in Albany years before 1720, when John Beasley arrived in Albany, is the same person is obviously wrong]. For Lydia (Van Benthuysen) Beasley see Pearson, Jonathan. Contributions for the genealogies of the first settlers of...Albany, from 1630 to 1800. (Genealogical Pub: 1978). 3. The Underground Activity of Defiance For the underground escape of indentured servants see Raelly, Ellis L. Portrait of New Netherland (Pt. Washington, N.Y.: 1965) “Bond servants, especially those in a luckless settlement, no less than slaves, desired their freedom. To assist indentured servants of the city’s colony to escape to Maryland and Virginia, an underground railway sprang up. One of Augustus Herman’s objectives on his mission to the colony of Lord Baltimore was the destruction of this system of escape.” (p. 162). 4. Conflicting Views Develop Bielinski, Stefan. Abraham Yates and the New Political Order in Revolutionary New York (Albany: 1975). Knoblauch, Edward. The Old City Hall: the Albany Common Council in the American Revolution. (paper). 5. The Authorities Clamp Down Brennan, Dennis P. “Open to All Parties: Alexander and James Robertson, Albany Printers, 1771-1777.” The Hudson Valley Regional Review: a Journal of Regional Studies (March 1999) v.10, no. 1. Fraser, J. Skulking for the King (Erin: Boston Mills, 1985). 6. Spies and Propaganda as Forms of Resistance Bielinski, Stefan. The Other Revolutionaries. The People of Albany and American Independence, 1763-1783 (New York State Museum: 1996). For Henry Beasley see Pearson, Jonathan. Contribution for the genealogies of the first settlers....op.cit. For John Ostrander see New York Colonial Muster Rolls [appointed Town Sergeant (Brigade Major) May 20, 1777]. For Masonic Lodge see Collection on the History of Albany v.3, p.418. 8. Paranoia and Resentment Watt, Gavin K. The Flockey, 13 August 1777: Defeat of the Tory Uprising in the Schoharie Valley (King City: Watt, 2002). 9. Family Ties Lead to Escape Young, Alfred. The Democratic Republican of New York. The Origins, 1763-1797 (Chapel Hill: Univ of North Carolina press, 1962). 10. A Refuge Becomes a Staging Base for War Loyalist Petition of Richard Beasley, Feb.5, 1795 “That your petitioner’s father came into the province in the year 1791 and remained until his death which happened in ‘93—a known and good friend during the late American War. Your petitioner came into the province in the year 1777 and served two years as acting Commissary....” For lands at Toronto and Pemestiscutiank [Port Hope] Quebec Land Book. Petition of Richard Beasley and Peter Smith 22 Oct 1788, p.52; 14 July, 1789, p.96. For Beasley’s acres at Burlington Heights see Crown Lands Department. Reports of the Surveyor General, 1795-1799, vol.1 and Commissioners Reports laid before the Board: Lands claimed before the Commissioners. Cartwright, C.E. Life and Letters of the late Honourable Richard Cartwright (Toronto: Belford, 1876). Letters from Fort Niagara to General Haldimand in the years of the Revolutionary War give interesting descriptions of the people and activities. See the Haldimand Papers in the PAC. For Peter Smith see letter from John Johnston Sr., 142 Spadina Ave, Toronto to Edwin Guillet, March 12, 1942 in Guillet’s Early Canadian Literature: literary pioneers of the old Newcastle District (Toronto: 1942). 11. The Escaping Hero Symbolizes Loyalist and Indian Alliance For Richard Cartwright’s role in Walter Butler’s escape see Memorial of Richard Cartwright. Loyalist Claims Book Vol.22 (NYPL). “He saved the life of Captain Butler who later fell in service by effecting his escape from his own home in Albany when under sentence of death, at the risk of his life. That, for these and such Acts he was banished from Albany and sent to Canada.” 12. Maddened Mobs Drive Out the Cartwrights See Memorial of Richard Cartwright, op.cit. He cited a mob of between three and four thousand persons.